Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked significant backlash after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of females by taking off their attire.
Multiple examples have surfaced where the tool has been used to virtually strip female subjects to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in inappropriate situations.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional features—which answers X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for enabling users to create images and videos with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate material of public figures.
"X has been allowing the creation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "depicting likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "suitable measures" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they learn of it.
